Mini-Review: Though things really had to be cut down in order to make things digestible for an unfamiliar audience, I really enjoyed ‘Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths’. I was able to follow the multiple plot-lines throughout without getting lost. The amount of tension this movie sustains is notable, especially considering most of these heroes are invincible and still have you feeling a sense of dread. The characters all had an impressive depth to them, even with the vast number of heroes involved. Great!

Mini-Review: Hearing Bugs dole out racial slurs as he hands the Japanese sticks of dynamite definitely makes it though to watch without cringing a little bit. Still, the comedy is pretty much on par with what you can find in other Bugs shorts. Bugs dresses as a lady. Bugs fools people chasing him by jumping into his hole and appearing behind them. If the Japanese were something less insensitive, people would eat it up. Hard to appreciate it when it’s so blatantly and openly hateful though.

Mini-Review: The first half of ‘Iron Man 2’ feels like run-off from the original ‘Iron Man’. This is enjoyable enough, as the original was very well done. Still, this doesn’t allow the film to gain much traction either in the plot or character development. The second half of the film feels like a prequel for the ‘Avengers’ movie coming in two years. This leads to you feeling a little cheated when the movie ends, since you never really get that pay-off until the Avengers assemble in their own film.

Mini-Review: ‘A Different Path’ is an activist film that is a bunch of hot air. A pedestrian, a bike rider and a kayaker all complain that cars exist. The bike rider, in particular, talks a lot about a world without cars, saying that people should stop driving. He offers no reasons or solutions. He just spouts this non-sense and gets upset when no one does his bidding. These moments are split apart with shots of waves or an angle staring right up the rider’s nose for minutes at a time. Awful, awful stuff.

Mini-Review: Having seen Grenier’s first documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival, I was excited to see ‘Teenage Paparazzo’. Grenier has an honesty when he’s behind the camera. He pulls no punches, making himself an open-book. He realizes his role in the machine of the paparazzi and uses his fame to gain access he otherwise wouldn’t be afforded. The film is completely self-aware, allowing for an introspection about fame and its consequences that few celebrities or media would ever allow.

Mini-Review: ‘Talhotblond’ is one of those documentaries that has everything to do with timing. The film-making isn’t at top quality, though they did their best to make text on a screen as exciting as possible. Something much better film-makers have tried and failed themselves. The clumsy film-making almost gets in the way of a story that is so unbelievable, had it not been true, would seem entirely bogus. The “first-person” narration by a murdered teen adds to the unbelievability, but the story saves it.

Mini-Review: I have to admit, I was immediately alarmed when the filmmaker, Josh Fox, started a film about natural gas with a mini-biography. Thankfully, ‘Gasland’ picks up immediately after focusing on the human element, making it easy to place yourself in the situation. The middle does sag, reiterating information from every small town Fox visits, the doc picks up at the end with a decent payoff. I knew nothing about “fracking”, but after watching ‘Gasland’, I felt like an expert – a concerned one at that.

Mini-Review: I started my experience with ‘Kick-Ass’ years ago when I picked up the comic. I liked the idea of a kid dressing up as a superhero and paying for doing so. The moment Hit-Girl and Big Daddy showed up – I stopped reading. Here, they add life to the flick that would otherwise be missing. Dave’s tragedy is toned down from the comic, instead emphasizing his lack of a sex life, which isn’t as interesting or original. Still, the over-the-top action and subtle spoofs make ‘Kick-Ass’ a pretty fun ride.

Movie titles seem to be getting a lot less creative lately, but I’m completely okay with that if the movie transcends the title. Use the title to sell the concept and the film to build character. ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ doesn’t do much of either. Instead of going somewhere unexpected with the comedy, it’s always the most obvious gag possible. Poo, barf and piss are supporting cast to the F-word. The characters take a backseat to hit and miss jokes. It just feels like it never really gets going.

Though it doesn’t quite re-capture the magic of the hand-drawn Disney animated classics, ‘The Princess and the Frog’ is a step in the right direction. The twist on the classic story fits well enough and all the expected archetypes are there. Though it’s a staple of any Disney classic, the songs get quite tedious to sit through. None were really memorable as they skipped from one to another. The resolution feels tacked on as Tiana changes her feelings for no other reason than to wrap things up.

‘Date Night’ isn’t much of a plot-driven thriller. It doesn’t surprise you much. It’s the typical formula of crooked cops and mistaken identity. The main characters are two unlikely, but believable heroes. They’re the every-couple. When things go south, they react as anyone would, but with the wit and charisma you would expect from the Fey and Carrell. The laughs are well earned as the Fosters react completely in character, even with the short first act to get you familiar with their mannerisms.

Rating: 80 (4 Stars)

I know, Date Night doesn’t come out for at least month after this post claims to be posted. Forgive me and we’ll have some fun. Taking a break from the movie reviews and moving on to some grub reviews! Are you with me? Well, too bad. I’m doing it anyway.

‘Repo Men’ is not a movie about exploring or explaining the fantastical world where you can buy organs for exorbitant amounts of money, knowing that if you can’t make the payments, the company that supplied the organ will retrieve it in the most in-humane and gory fashion possible. It asks that you just accept this reality and see what happens when Remy is thrown to the dogs. It’s not about the world, it’s about Remy. It gets a bit crazy before the end, but all those problems are explained away.

I credit my enjoyment of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ directly to my avid fandom of ‘The Dog Whisperer’. It’s almost as if Hiccup watched a marathon of Cesar training out of control dogs and tried it on a bunch of fire-breathing dragons. Hiccup’s voice does get on the annoying side at times, but suits his character. The flying scenes smelled of ‘Avatar’, not really adding anything to the plot. Just flying for the sake of throwing things at your face in 3D. The ending was refreshing too. Fun flick.

I’m totally up for movies that are totally derivative of other movies. Tarantino made a career of these types of films, but Kevin Smith should stay as far away from the genre. The opening sequence, where Paul says his interrogation style is ‘homage’ to movies, should have been enough. Rather, every time there’s a movie reference, the characters feel the need to footnote it. “That was Robocop!” I got it. An homage includes an original twist on the bit; instead ‘Cop Out’ is just a witless rehash.

Rating: 5 (0 Stars)

It really sucks that Cop Out was as bad as it was. I was really looking forward to it. I spent more than enough time on this blog talking about it, but when all the awful reviews came out, I delayed my viewing by about a month. I wish I had delayed it even longer.

Every time I would go to a Leaf game, there were always a couple things I could count on. The Leafs would lose and there would be ‘Slap Shot’ trivia. Given this mindset, I was led to believe that ‘Slap Shot’ was the film that got hockey right, not like the ‘Mighty Ducks’ I grew up on. Now I know where ‘Ducks’ got it from. The comedy isn’t my bag. Things are set up with a smirk and the funny gets sucked out of it. ‘Slap Shot’ could have been about a failing pub and that wouldn’t effect the plot.

‘Alice in Wonderland’, directed by Tim Burton, was like one of those super-fights that promises to be legendary, but ends up being a total waste of time and hype. ‘Alice’ and Burton’s styles meshed together so well that anything less than brilliant would be an upset. ‘Alice’ barely decent, let alone brilliant. It’s hard to care what happens to these characters or Wonderland. From the moment you meet, they foresee a big fight at the end. When it finally comes, you’re more relieved than satisfied.

I get it. The war in Iraq was a bad idea. ‘Green Zone’ adds itself to the list of too-soon postmortems on the Iraq War, but masks itself as ‘Bourne 4’. Bourne it ain’t. Miller has only one motivation – finding WMDs. When he sees that there are none, he starts asking questions. Apparently, he’s one of only three people to do so. Everyone else is an evil liar or is busy relaxing poolside with the bikini-clad women. It’s hard to be thrilled when you’re being taught a bad lesson in current events.

Rating: 25 (1 Star)

That’s about it for now. Tomorrow, I have 3 new releases on the docket. None of which blew my socks off, but two of them weren’t too bad.

I liked the idea of ‘Not Quite Hollywood’. When I read the synopsis. It promised an examination of Ozploitation films and the folks who made them. Instead, you get a lot of “remember when”. They insist we should love their work, yet barely explain, let alone examine, why these movies were made or successful at all. They do a little, but not enough to justify the love they share over the films. I wasn’t around for these flicks, so the nostalgia was completely lost on me and this doc hinges on it.

“My name is Zeus and I am the king among gods. Ares, my son, is the god of war. We must fight because we disagree.” That’s not verbatim from ‘Wonder Woman’, but it may as well be. I was rolling my eyes so much during this flick that my eyelids started to hurt. So many exposition dumps. Why tell each other so much information you already know? “You and I are sisters, Athena.” Would you not punch that person? I wish I could. When the plot picks up, it recovers, but not enough to save the film.

Is it okay to bore you to tears if your ending is good enough? That’s the question that ‘Shutter Island’ had me pondering once I left the movie. This film benefits like no other by watching it in the theater. Unlike at home, you’re captive and forced to see it through. Once you do, the ending almost makes the torturous first hour and some worth it. All the non-sense – explained away in one long expository scene. It had me thinking once I left, but had me steaming when I was left out of the loop.

Rating: 60 (3 Stars)

This is only the beginning. I have a lot of catching up to do and I’ve been writing a lot of reviews of not only movies, but restaurants, stores and books. Stay tuned for all that fun.

Here’s me playing catch-up on these posts. I could come up with a hundred excuses why I’m writing these posts so late, but instead I’ll just get to it.

I tend to go to a lot of different arenas for hockey games or wrestling shows, and though the purpose is generally the same, each building has a very different feel to it. One of my favorite buildings is Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. I might be a little biased, being a Red Wings fan, but the energy in the arena is like no where else. I felt the need to share this information with a social networking site I’m becoming pretty active within: Yelp.

There are two reasons to go to Joe Louis Arena – the atmosphere and the product on the ice. The Detroit Red Wings are one of the most successful teams in hockey and it shows when you see them live and in person. You’re sure to see an exciting game as they tend to shoot the puck as often as possible, forcing the opposition to follow suit.

Given the smaller size of the arena, there really isn’t a bad seat in the place. You can even see Yzerman watching on from the press box, which is pretty close to the rest of the seats in the arena.

Ticket prices are pretty cheap. You can get tickets to some games for as low as $8. The Joe is also one of the last arenas to have standing room tickets.

Joe Louis Arena definitely isn’t a building that you visit for the architecture. It looks like a construction site on the outside, with its endless rows of porta-johns, and an old warehouse on the inside with the complete lack of decor or quality lighting. Outside of a bronze statue of Howe when you first walk in, there isn’t much to see off the ice.

Even when the team isn’t performing as well as they could, the crowd is the best reason to see a game in person – especially during the Playoffs. The crowd is always into the game. Patrons are nice and courteous. My brother was brave enough to wear an Anaheim Ducks jersey to Game 7 of the Playoffs and he left without much more than some teasing. Try doing something like that in Buffalo.

If you’re a hockey fan at all, whether you’re a Red Wings fan or not, you definitely have to go to a game at the Joe.

It’s hard to review an arena when the usage can change, therefore attracting a different crowd, but the Joe is pretty consistent. It’s a hockey arena first. It’s the center of HockeyTown and proud of it.

I truly believed that Avatar would win this category. Given that it’s the highest grossing film ever and the Oscars wants to seem like it’s “in touch”, I thought they had to go this way. I’m glad they didn’t. I was happy to see The Hurt Locker take this category, but I still think Up in the Air or An Education deserved it more so.

Best Actor
My Guess and WINNER: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

I took a risk guessing Streep and I know that. I felt like it would be her and clearly my feeling were wrong. I haven’t seen Bullock’s performance so I can’t argue whether it was worthy or not. What I can say is she did have the best speech of the night, by far.

Best Supporting ActressPenélope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the AirMaggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the AirMy Guess and WINNER: Mo’Nique, Precious

Mo’Nique upsets me. The first thing she says is that she’s happy that the Academy can focus on the work rather than the politics then immediately thanks Oprah and Tyler Perry for helping “get the word out”. It’s so beyond hypocritical it drove me nuts and I fast-forwarded through the rest of her acceptance speech in anger.

Best DirectorMy Guess and WINNER: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

No surprise here at all, but Barbara Streisand’s “the time has come” was much too corny for my tastes.

This upset me for a couple of reasons. Up in the Air truly deserved to win. If not that, An Education. The shock of the loss for those screenplays was enough, but the fact that a writer, whose job it is to put words in peoples’ mouths had the worst speech of the night. Even Steve Martin had to take a jab at it.

Best Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of KellsMy Guess and WINNER: Up

Best Documentary ShortChina’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth GardnerMy Guess: The Last Truck: Closing of a GM PlantWINNER: Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin

Best Animated Short
My Guess: French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)WINNER: Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

I am so disappointed by this win. Logorama has no good qualities to it and completely drops the ball in regards to its gimmick. Why is Ronald McDonald a robber? Why not the Hamburglar? Not to mention how annoying the swearing is in this short. It’s clumsy and sounds much too forced. Not a fan of the flick and not a fan of its win.

Best Live-Action ShortMy Guess: The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle FishWINNER: The New Tenants

I wasn’t a fan of The New Tenants. I thought all the films were great except for Tenants, so I wasn’t so happy to see it win. It’s aching to be a Tarantino movie, but it isn’t. It feels like what Tarantino may write had he suffered a stroke. Really not very clever or entertaining, but not nearly as unenjoyable as Logorama.

That was the Oscars. I think I’ll relax on the movie talk for a little bit now.